Co-Defensive coordinators. What on earth does this mean, and why would you do this? I like Adam Zimmer, and I really like Andre Patterson, but choose ONE. This feels like a cop-out. They’re not even changing their roles! Patterson is continuing to coach the defensive line and Zimmer will continue to coach the linebackers, but somehow they will also both be defensive coordinators. If Mike Zimmer continues to call plays then the Vikings essentially don’t even have a defensive coordinator. It could be revolutionary. It could also be a train wreck. What if he gives up play calling? Which “defensive coordinator” will call plays? How do you decide that? Maybe they just switch every play or every drive, that could be fun. They could flip a coin every play, or spin a spinner before the game. Rock paper scissors could work. Lots of possibilities here, maybe that should be the subject of another blog (it will be). I honestly need an explanation of how this is supposed to work.
I find this very frustrating. The defense has already peaked (they have), and during this off-season a handful of key players will likely leave or get cut/traded to create cap room. They are also not getting younger. It was time for a change, clearly they weren’t as good, but a half ass promotion from within the organization was not the answer. This isn’t going to make them better, the team needs a new, external influence. “But they were a top ten defense!” How often did they actually look like it though? They couldn’t stop a good passing game or a good running game, and they couldn’t get off the field on third down. That’s a bad recipe. It’s a horrible recipe, worse than Jeppson’s Malört. We spent the whole season complaining about Mike Zimmer’s “vaunted” defense because they rarely showed up.
I believe a Mike Zimmer defense will always be pretty good, but this season, when they needed to step up the most, the 49ers and Seahawks “ran through our ass like shit through a tin horn man, and we could not stop them” (S/O Nick Saban). There were options available for defensive coordinator, good options, yet it seems like Mike Zimmer didn’t even consider them. Did he even interview other coaches? Was the best decision seriously to change nothing?
I understand Zimmer wants consistency and continuity, but he runs the risk of things getting stale. The same voices and the same scheme is not always the best option when you defense is at risk of falling off.
My biggest concern though, is who is going to do the midweek press conferences during the season. I watch every single one of those, and I don’t know how you decide between Adam and Andre. Can you have both up there? Talk about electricity. Two coaches answering the same dumb and annoying questions.
We’ll see what happens. He could be making the biggest mistake of his life, or the biggest good decision of his life.
Time to spin the chamber Boris.
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